Finegan Thompson Graphic Design, Marketing Communications

Proposition 4

2010-09-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Now that it is successfully concluded, here is an I.D. design I did for a local Special Tax initiative.

Word count in InDesign CS3

2010-09-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

While working on an annual report, we wanted to blockout copy for the copywriter so he knew how much to write. We put in greek text as a placeholder and fit the copy into the layout. Then used the info feature to count the words in each story. As usual, I went to Google for a quick working explanation and found this helpful link, Word count in InDesign CS3.

Watch that wireless

2010-08-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

What do I have to do with homeomorphism and face recognition? Not a lot really. But it came spitting out of my wireless printer last night. Spooky. I believe that one of my neighbors accidentally found my wireless printer on their printer que and hit the button to "print" without looking. That means my printer has a range of more than fifty yards. Impressive. The only relevance this has to do with graphic design is that we print a lot and should be aware of flukes in this wireless environment. Ta ta. (By the way, I use "ta ta" as a signoff or saying "good bye" but when I looked it up it said it was a greeting.)

Some logo samples

2010-08-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

The Emily files

2010-08-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

Emily, my post-graduate graphic design student, is working for me. She did a series of ads for the Teton County Fair and several for a ballot issue campaign that goes along with the 2010 primaries. I will post some samples when the panic mode is off.

Update

2010-07-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, two comments that weren't family. Emily is now a Graphic Design Graduate and living with us in Jackson prior to moving to Seattle.

I'm still designing and rather busy. Doing a free-lance gig too. Helping my tenant and printshop friend stay in business so she can keep paying rent. That's not the only reason. She does great work and I think she is an asset to the local design community.

More later.

Annual Report Crash

2010-02-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

Something happened that I have never experienced before—an indesign document got damaged and started crashing the entire application. Every time I tried to execute a command, set type, add or delete something, the document crashed, taking InDesign with it. This was a large document with sections and thus would be difficult to rebuild. Also, I did not have a comp with all the latest changes.

Luckily, I was able to open the document and drag all the content into a new duplicate document. I feel very fortunate to have that much access to the damaged document. So far, the dupe is working fine.

Anyone else have crash/fix stories they would like to share?

InDesign tricks

2010-01-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

I would be lost without the internet. I was trying to print an annual report comp out paginated, so I could simply stitch it together just as it would be printed at the printer. several sources pointed me n the right direction to accomplish what I wanted to do.

Under the "File" menu, at the bottom is a "Print Booklet" command. Check it out if you are trying to make a comp or create booklets for a project.

A trick for making your page numbers appear on top of your page layout elements is to create a new layer and copy and paste the auto page number on your master page into the top layer. After that they will appear on top of screened backgrounds, bleed photos or other page elements that occupy the same space as the page number.

It pays to spend some time field testing InDesign to see what features you can incorporate into your workflow. Keyboard shortcuts are another set of tools for making your projects go more smoothly as you maneuver your layouts.

Orange won

2009-12-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Re: "Will Orange Survive" the project is complete and orange indeed won out. The backgrounds of the directory signs are orange as well as the large letters identifying the building. WIll post photos soon—although it is snowy and nasty here right now and I am not inclined to go out and get pictures of anything.

Social Networking, et al

2009-12-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

During my long, three-month absence, I took up Twitter and Facebook. While I think they are both huge time wasters, they provide a new dimension of communication at arm's length. Now with re-tweets I can share some of the creative sources I have found. Otherwise the only "Push" is to friends and relatives I don't get to see very much.

For instance, I connected with a classmate from design school who is on top of a lot of creative sources and organizations.

You are probably more up on Stumbleupon than I am but choosing graphic design as a topic led me to some useful sites. Some great Photoshop tutorials, an interesting typographic Flash® video and a photography site that reminded me of how much I don't know.

I met an author, yes, a real author with published novels and everything. He uses a little application called "Freedom" to keep him from wandering into the online wonderland while he is trying to write. Enforced discipline. All of this can eat up time and/or provide a series of counter themes when you are trying to come up with a creative solution.

In my stumbles, I found this list of classic web sites you should see.

Proud of my kid(s)

2009-12-04T15:57:00.001-08:00

Not that I favor one over the other but to each their own. Emily Thompson, my daughter who is studying graphic design at MSU in Bozeman, MT has had two pieces submitted for Addy award consideration. I will be ecstatic if she wins but am just as happy she was recognized even this much.

Blogcatalog.com

2009-12-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

For grins I searched Finegan Thompson and the number two item that came up in Google was my blog—as cataloged on this handy site.

I was skeptical about doing this but though, "Can't hurt" and now there I am. Better than Linkedin.

A nice surprise

2009-11-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

Forgot to mention that I got a gallery show of my artwork. I haven't received the contract yet but the tentative dates are April 19-May 26. As I get ready I will post pics of the work I will be exhibiting, and of course, the show notice.

Charlotte, liking it more and more

2009-11-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

I recently set up a logo icon with Rotis sans. Despite the unconventional ampersand, it looks good in this particular application. I would have preferred a font with a deeper set of variations but, as I said, Rotis was the most complimentary font for this icon.

I am teaming it with the Charlotte family. The chiseled serifs are contemporary and go nicely with the Rotis in the logo.

Try it. I think I got mine from fonts.com.

Will orange survive?

2009-07-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

Not so sure the new client is going to go for the orange. Some concerns about competing with a tenant's sign that has a big patch of tomato red. This is where the client wins out for the sake of expediency.

They want a thicker panel than the powder-coated steel I wanted. Budget concerns. Not that they can't afford it. It's a nice building—they are just cost averse.

I suggested this substrate the signbuilders use. Handles like wood but holds up better in weather, lasts longer and has no grain. It take finishes well. I don't know the name of it but I am sure any medium scale sign builder can help with it.

Finegan Thompson's new project

2009-07-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Had a very successful meeting with a client yesterday, regarding signage for their new office building. In Jackson, buildings are big if they are about 100' x 200' so this one accommodates about six tenants.

The signs include the outside upper level guide, inside guide and the address lettering on the main building.

I used orange, a color I love and have trouble getting much response to. We'll see how they like it after considering the design and font choices.

I put the sketches, both pencil and digital, on heavy black board so they would be easier to manage on site. Earlier, I took photos of the building then superimposed the designs on the images in Photoshop®. The images I used and the presentation took place exactly the same time of day so the presentation had that much more impact as it had a "What you see is what you get" element.

Baby Teeth, font of the 70s

2009-07-22T08:23:00.000-07:00

While helping my daughter think through a design she was doing, I, out of the blue, thought of a font from my past, Babyteeth. This was back in the days of Letraset rub-down lettering. Take a look at Babyteeth here and let me know your thoughts.

The project is for a consignment store specializing in sporting goods. It includes sporting stuff as in Sports Authority or similar stores but is dedicated to the high-end Patagonia, Mountain hardware-like equipment.

The name is 2nd wind and it occurred to me that using something entirely un-windy might spur some ideas about pos-neg or superimposing images or designs.

Unfortunately, the font us not readily available under that name and the Typophile site lists another font as a substitute.

On a roll

2009-07-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

Check out marikas_art on Twitter. He was following me for some reason so I checked him out, after I blocked him I added him as a friend. He seems just to post links to art, graphic design, galleries, Youtube videos and music. I have only clicked on a few links but I find them interesting and see a common link of the sublime to the ridiculous. Judge for yourselves.

The state of fonts

2009-07-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

Interesting bit of flotsam on the best-selling fonts at Fontshop. It was comforting to see some standards, Neue helvetica et al. And interesting to see Bank Gothic, V.A.G. rounded and Sinaloa—stuff around when I was just discovering typography. Google reviews of Avant Garde and see the various takes on it's appropriateness. I like Meridien which waasn't listed in the best-selling but I always thought was a nice face. My brother is a type designer. Check out his sight and fonts at nobodoni. Keep learning about type—it is central to graphic design.

the Designer as a person

2009-07-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Of course few (the few who actually visit this blog—yes, I am fishing for comments and reassurances) of you might have noticed I have been steadily slacking off on posts. I have struggled with bipolar disorder most of my life and in the past months it has been nearly intolerable. I am swinging into mania as I type and at least it feels good to have some energy. A little later I will expound a bit on the emotional state of designers and the process—the good, the bad, the positively ugly.

Thanks for your patience.

Mentioned this but here's the follow up

2009-05-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is the final version of the cover.

Recent work

2009-05-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5338329515479237522" />

Can't get rid of bottom code line.

Beautiful photography rules

2009-04-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

A website I was working on.

Creepy?

2009-04-13T11:56:00.001-07:00

I put this up a few minutes ago, then looked at it compared to the ad and cover I put up earlier. I think it is too creepy for the newspaper. Alzheimer's is dementia, not insanity.

Too creepy? Yes.

A bit of sculpture

2009-04-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

This is a top portion of a "box" literally a "found" wood box sculpture from 2007. I do these, hesitating to call them sculpture. I hesitate to call myself an artist, or an outsider artist as I have a background in art but not sculpture. Anyway, I like the image and the piece, just wanted to put it in as I am building a site for the stuff and will keep you posted when it is up.

Eye catching design?

2009-04-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

The assignment is to create a quarter page newspaper ad and a rack card style piece for an upcoming health fair. Cognitive health refers to fending off and managing dementia associated with Alzheimer's. Alzheimers's is not curable or even effectively controlable. I chose the aging guy (trite, I know) but tightly cropped so as not to have viewers focus on a personality. This is a stock photo, from istockphoto.com, a "value priced" stock house I like for clients on a tight budget (read: everybody, especially now).

At this point, I am not able to judge my work effectively. I design with tight "image, text, color" so it is hard to see other solutions.

The only other thing I can think of is some ripped type reading "Alzheimers" up one side and maybe some scribbley cluster to the right, or something like that on the horizontal plane. Or maybe a high-contrast negative reversed out of a dark color again with ripped up type and a grabier headline. Can't think of one right now, maybe just "alzheimer's."

Another caveat is that everything I do for this client is, again, clean clean clean-clinical.

Note, if you comp up an idea and put in a link to it, I will still use what I have now. Honest. Well, I might do the scribble thing just to see how it looks, but the client, (oh, that one) is pretty conservative and really focused on her connection with the university research institute.

I gave this guy the brush-off

2009-04-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry about that, Xcavator is a fast image compiler for several stock image houses. It grabs image thumbs from places like istockphoto, who I use extensively for comp images and a few fill-ins for brochures. I blew it off without studying it. Again, apologies.

two website sketches

2009-04-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

Two ideas for new F|T websites. One is busy, the idea is multi-faceted, busy with work, multi-dimensional.

The second is clean clean clean swiss swiss swiss.

My kingdom for some junk

2009-03-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

I waffled on whether to post this or not, it seemed so obvious. Anyway, This cd cover is at the front of a row of my cds and I see it several times a day, seven days a week. When I first saw it, I thought, "That's fine if you have a huge illustration budget." I could visualize a bunch of guys in the photographer's studio building this thing over the span of a few days, then getting the light just right, taking a bunch of different angles and making it beautiful. About $10,000 worth of beautiful.

Then the other day, I looked at the base of the assemblage. It looks like a small cafe table base, and it occurred to me that most of the stuff was junk that even I could find around here for under $100.00. Put it together, clamp it to the table top, making sure it is balanced, prop up the Cello behind everything and shoot away. There is a lot of duct tape and non-audio stuff thrown in. It must have been fun creating this.

The upshot is that it is an idea I would have dismissed out of hand as too time consuming, too difficult (after all, where would I get a Cello to tear up), too "out there" to be worth the effort. Another example of defeating oneself before you get started. I would have ended up with some series of flat cut-outs, overlapping, wild colors, boring but effective. Or should I say that the other way 'round?

Even the photographer must have had some input about lighting, color and placing the highlights, dropoff, everything. The photography merges the layers with even lighting so you can put a real Cello up there and "suspend disbelief" when the camera flattens the assemblage. I think I could pull it off for under $2,500. If I were a student, my labor would be class/grade driven and I could probably drum up a garage in which to shoot it, maybe having to pay a studio for a cast-off seamless. Or I could build a real cove. Then turn it into a skateboard ramp when I am done.

Putting a little distance between the creative burst and the execution allows the idea to gestate a little before you get into logistics. Creative execution is necessary too, but the difficulty shouldn't stem the creative tide before it has time to crest.

Mana from Heaven

2009-03-14T11:28:00.001-07:00

I look for unconventional sources of inspiration and this book falls into that category. Besides the rich colors and unfamiliar combinations, the way another culture portrays imagery is fascinating. And 140 pages of matchbook themes ranging from serous religious images to daffy illustrations of common situations is a lot of stimulation. I know, you're now thinking, "Stimulation? Thompson get a life!"

This is my life.

The top picture is the cover (enlarged, the box is roughly 2 x 3 inches) of one of two boxes of matches that turned up in my brother-in-law's golf bag. He bought it at a thrift store and it came complete with an empty pint booze bottle, some rolling papers, a little golf towel and these matches. Go figure. Endless possibilities.

The book is compiled by Warren Dotz, published by Ten Speed Press. Measures 8.5 x 5 inches and is softcover with a hard slipcase. $16.95 as of this post. Look for it used on Amazon, or better yet, Alibris.com.

Somebody else's site, but useful and entertaining

2009-03-12T14:23:00.000-07:00

Eric's site in About.com

Although he posts about as much as I do, he finds a lot of valuable, quality design material both in samples and news. His references are simple and accessible.

Eric also has many posts that pertain to the basic stuff of plying the design trade. Check it out.

Inspiration again

2009-03-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

Some interactive fun: A little romp
And something from Adobe

And a personal journal in text and images. The power of wonderful imagery.

Apologies if I mixed up the links. But you still get the point.

Inspiration

2009-03-12T12:38:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post

Good music, good type

2009-02-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

Back from five days in Chicago. Fun? Greek food, Millers Pub, the Art Institute and the grubby, noisy pool of humanity that inhabits most urban cores. I stayed in the 'burbs, which, with unusual snowfall, limited my travel options.

I did get to see the Edvard Munch show that opened there recently. Munch succeeded in building an image of a tormented, mentally ill aberration. His portrait, above, with the light source below, highlighting his craggy features, was done intentionally to promote that image.

Some of the most striking pieces, beyond his famous and much manipulated "The Scream" are his woodcuts. Most are four color prints made with two blocks. His use of stark contrast and large solid areas of black and white made it possible to ink only certain sections and use one block for two colors with amazing effect.

It was inspiring to see so much emotion derived from so little line and form. The most exquisite work, obviously, was in the creative thought prior to the first cut.

I sound like a boring textbook, don't I?

On the music front, I was having a chicken Caesar in a sports bar in the B concourse at O'hare and there's my playlist, at least a lot of it, on the background track. Even down to the old, 4/4 Der Kommissar by Falco. This isn't high art, just some tech-ish, funky 80"s shit.

It was a little scary to know that I must have things in common with some unknown sound company out there. Maybe these tracks are created with some complex algorhithm that goes through protocols matching age/income/mental stability with cheesy radio playlists and comes up with weird tracks. Anyway, it seemed like a sign, that is if I were into superstition.

Oh, were you waiting for the good type? My older brother teaches typographic design, history of design and something else I can't remember. He designs fonts and they are for sale at several of the on-line font sources or at his site, Nobodoni.com. Check it out.

Sorry George for the miniscule plug, it just got buried under the Chicago blather. Your site looks very nice.

More later.

Good music, bad type

2009-02-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

So far, the highest number of comments has been for music recommendations. Next are fonts, then design. Be sure to read the comments for ideas on new music. Fuels the creative spirit and gives you something new to listen to.

Bauhaus Follow-up

2009-02-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

I got a recommendation to use Futura to replace the evil Bauhaus. I have not pitched it yet. I have to do it over the phone and with pdf's. I used extra black, bold and text. Once again, weight in.

Polititian update

2009-02-06T14:37:00.001-08:00

Despite the point person overlooking a citizen committee charged with defining the logo's tasks, the approval was granted. committee hell has been temporarily avoided and I am moving forward with a stylebook for the usual business paper.

I am a little touchy still about using Rotis Sans as I now see it everywhere. I am a cynic and a contrarian and hate to be a follower.

Angst is cleansing.

Why I design the way I do

2009-02-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

Domus, a hefty, perfect bound design magazine for the industrial design industry has been around nearly as long as I have. I lost touch with it many years ago, but stumbled onto it again doing some Google®. Domus is their online teaser for subscribing to the magazine. More important to me than the subject matter is their strict adherence to THE GRID. Looking back at my past work I began to suspect that I am mired in the kinds of design that shaped my thinking many many years ago—publications such as Domus. Swiss, Swiss, Swiss, clean, clean, clean. I don't seem to have many samples doing some of the relatively grid-free designs I see in the work of younger designers, and especially students. I used to think that student work that flowed over a page or site was simply trying to find THE GRID. Now I realize I am the one stuck in a certain meta-think. Not that any of this is bad. I can either let THE GRID be a kind of work pattern/trade mark of my design, or, I can practice more free-flowing solutions.

I would really like to post samples of others' work that demonstrate both/either. Have at it.

Too ugly to live, or really nifty?

2009-02-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I have a small job for a client who requested this font: Bauhaus This was designed in 1969 and belongs there as far as I am concerned. Around this time, Lettraset, a company who makes "rub-down" type, introduced a great many hip, modish fonts. Like most designs, they were quickly adopted and used everywhere. Most had little merit, except some really nice ones such as Avant Garde, created for the magazine of the same name.

So vote. Best left in the past, or really hip today? (they always predict wide ties coming back but I have yet to see '60's hipster ties exactly matching what's in now.

Oh, and the replacement sync cord for my Nano ipod cost $19.95 plus tax.

Interesting interactive, flash and web design

2009-01-29T14:00:00.000-08:00

jefflindesign is a student site. He appears to be a gifted code writer and visual designer. I jumped around his site and liked what I saw. Despite the dark, gloomy appearance of his site, his gothic signature and broken links, his sideflip animation and breakout game display a playful nature in his creativity

Check it out and give me your thoughts. Or better yet, post a link to your own site.

The Cure, Snow Patrol, Beatles, Arcade Fire

2009-01-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

What are you listening to while you work? Please comment. I don't know if ANYBODY reads this blog. I live in isolation here and need some feedback.

I won a door prize raffle and got this nifty ipod nano. The slim one that shows pictures and rotates the pic as you rotate the pod.

The dog, well one dog, Abby, already chewed up the sync cord. Neat toy anyway.

Creatively stranded

2009-01-29T10:38:00.000-08:00

Been through one latte and three espressos from the good 'ole Gaggia Synchrony machine in the kitchen. I love/live espresso so much that when designing this house/studio I planned in a "Coffee Bay"—a nook housing a small sink, cupboards for coffee and cups and counters for machines and paraphernalia.

I need to come up with an annual report cover for a hospital foundation. The theme is helping visitor and local alike. I keep going back to "cookie cutter" silhouettes in a spiral or rows — really stock, first idea stuff. I am trying to conceptualize a helping hand, illustrated in typography—names of local and national/international locations visitors arrive from. I am not an illustrator, although I sometimes pull off covers and designs, illustrated from scratch or manipulated images. Know your strengths!

While looking for a digital artist who's site I recently encountered, I stumbled onto a site chock full of MIT designers. Some of the work is quite dull but innovative in its own way. aesthetics and computation illustrates what you get when you cross computer geeks with innovative technology. I have seen this before, when I was struggling with early cold typesetting for a catalog with lots of type runarounds. One of the engineers handling the machines spent a night
creating a grid that would give character counts in any line length on an 8.5 x 11 inch page of text — an aid to typefitting. The only thing was that most typehouses handed out guides for calculating various character counts per inch for various common fonts and sizes. I broke it to him gently—he was such a nice guy, I debated even telling him, but I thought it was my duty to defend my industry.

This all gets back to the idea of illustrating with typography. A touchy business.

I will post the solution when the project goes to press.

definitions:
Cold type—The evolutionary step up from hand-set lead type. Type on photo paper created mostly by shining light through film masters moving at high speed. (Google "Compugraphic typesetting) You had to calculate how much type would fit in your design space, then hand it off to a specialized "typehouse" who "set" it on a page for paste-up. You marked up the first print to get rid of widows and put in line breaks, paragraphs, leading adjustments, and then sent it back for a final. Sometimes, the typehouse would print out a rough copy first in order to save on photo paper and development costs.

Paste-up—Illustration boards laid out with page/spread sized guides on which you "pasted" your cold type sheets. The cold type sheets were glued in place with rubber cement or wax, and hopefully stayed on the board until they were photographed and plated for printing.

None of this will help you today, as computers do it all very nicely and digital imaging takes several of the board/film/plate out of the equation. Although some print jobs that exist only on film might still be plated the "old way," but not very often.

The advantages of precise language

2009-01-25T11:37:00.001-08:00

In the PR business, observing and deconstructing a client's speech patterns is often necessary when they are involved in public speaking—this includes say, a retailer. I found this article, in New Yorker magazine that is pertinent to several of my bugaboos: Correcting Caroline. I am guilty of both from time to time, so I'm doubly sensitive and welcomed the news that there are people who actually study these flaws for a, like, you know, a living.

I don't know if I can totally identify with their conclusions about these habits of speech being artifacts of insecurity or vulnerability. But after hearing a conversation of which one half was almost ALL "like," the rest consisting mostly of pop speech such as "like, shut up!" spoken as a single word in three syllables with the UH being the accented, I could feel myself cringing. Ok, it was a nervous teen-aged girl, riding a chairlift with her mother. But soon she will need to present something to someone she needs to win over to her point of view. Job interviews tend to be places where you feel vulnerable or insecure. Purging these colloquialisms may be a kill-or-cure way to pluck yourself from your peer track, but learning to turn them off under duress is an important skill that will help you attain your goals more swiftly.

Later I will address a similar problem in graphic design.

Attack of the politicians

2009-01-25T10:31:00.001-08:00

Not too long after color palette update, The election of three new board members to the client's organization (a non-profit, county-ish hospital)took a dire turn. The logo project, now well along its way to approval and implementation, got snagged on one member's demand that the board see two options and pick one. Well, this stage had been completed months ago and this turn of events would open the door to the living hell of multiple, unqualified opinions that would pass as genuine, working criticism.

Fortunately, the demand turned into a gripey email memo sent around to and reported by the local newspaper. I believe this has spent the board member's energy and he is moving on to other targets of his wrath. It only goes to show how one's best critical path to a design solution can instantly be derailed and tossed into committee hell. You can look all around this country and you'll be hard put to find a monument erected in the name of a committee.

One working alternative to the broad examinations of a group of individual's who's only common ground is that they were elected to a board is to require a contact/managing point person to handle the liaison between you and the board or committee. This will rarely be an optimal solution. Unless they have an amazing grip on the board, the point person will have to assemble, prioritize and relay the same information you are un-exposing yourself to. This, too, can lead to seemingly never ending revisions and frustration. But it sometimes, if the liaison is clever and resourceful, leads to a smoother, more intelligent process.

Try it, you have nothing to lose, and from my experience, about a one in three chance of it working.

Cheers.

Color Palette update

2008-12-22T08:53:00.000-08:00

My entry for MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008 "Building and presenting color palettes" http://fineganthompson.blogspot.com/2008/10/color-palettes-for-blind.html illustrated a range of primary and secondary colors proposed for a client's communications. Over the past two months, dozens of comps have been generated using the palette and some have worked nicely. Others are positively hideous.

As the basis for a communication strategy and long-term design guide, having a chance to test concepts before they are included in a brand stylebook is a luxury. Either the client can afford a costly and time-consuming process whereby the designer tests each proposed application before the stylebook is published, or they suffer through endless edits and compromises. Neither process can be called the best, however, I have had a chance to develop pieces and the stylebook simultaneously and learned a lot about creating a usable guide for a corporation.

Mainly, I'm not locked into a bunch of colors that I thought looked nice together but that don't make very good graphics in actual working solutions. While it has delayed the stylebook, the result will be a lot closer to the tool it is intended to be.

Photography resource

2008-12-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

I recently learned of a new on line stock photo agency, http://www.istockphoto.com. They use a system of pre-purchased credits, either just enough for one image or a pack of credits you can use as you choose. The average price is the main advantage—$15.00 per image. Now, if, like me, you do projects where the ad is a small local black and white where you need some punch, you can create something eye-catching without blowing the budget.

I do a lot of jobs for clients, especially non-profits, who simply don't have budgets for much more than the media they are purchasing. While istockphoto's images suffer from the same problem most stock images do—trite concepts—they are reasonable enough that you can afford to use a chunk of one for an illustration base, or simply an accent.

Creative applications of images, say as parts of montages or blown up as a background or even just a visual field can lend a lean ad some heft. The resolutions available allow you to take part of an image and enlarge it until it is filling an average frame or covering a large ad.

And at the prices they are asking, istockphoto's images are within the reach of small design shops and students.

The single bright light of creativity

2008-12-18T16:06:00.001-08:00

While browsing my email, I opened an update from fontbureau®. A news bit caught my attention.

I quote, "Cyrus Highsmith’s Eleventh Digit

No, Cyrus Highsmith doesn’t have an extra finger (although that might explain his prodigious output!). “The Eleventh Digit” is the title of a workshop Highsmith presented in Guadalajara, Mexico, in October. “The idea was to invent a new number that appears compatible with the others but cannot be confused with any other character. It gets the students thinking about the structures of glyphs, the role of handwriting in their evolution, and the design of a glyph as separate from its structure. It’s pretty fun.”
http://type101.fontbureau.com/ archives/114

Side note: Highsmith's font "Escrow" has absolutely gorgeous numerals.

While in school, during a creative problem solving session, our professor, Victor Papanak (google him) gave us a challenge. Gaining weight was an issue in 1970 too and we were to come up with as many ideas as possible to solve society's problem. The two that stuck with me were: letting wild (preferably man-eating) animals roam the streets; the other was four-foot high curbs.

While there were many in-between, (and yes, we did think of and discard potato chips that gave you diarrhea, and now we have Olestra®) we held on to a few of the most far-fetched ideas to help create a spectrum. It kept bringing us back to possibilities that really, were simply impractical but would work.

The more good, or at least, in my judgment, effective, design I see, I also see the free-for-all thinking that is necessary to get out of the obvious solutions and into creative outer space.

Watch out it's coming to a design near you

2008-12-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

A quick update. Swirls are everywhere. The popularity of florid swirls will go on long after their design life has peaked. Don't wait for the big fall. Find something new. Rough cut, clunky fonts, hand mangled, are holding on strong. And stop using Rosewood Fill, damn it.

Dialogue and productivity

2008-12-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

The loss of my mother distracted me from doing much work for the past two weeks. I had done comps for a client but neglected to set up a meeting. Hoping to get voicemail, I called at four on Friday afternoon. She picked up the phone and said, "Come right over." The comps were already in my messenger bag so I mustered the strength to present five versions of one idea. This client liked looking at work product so I had about twenty mounted examples of discarded ideas in another pocket. When I mentioned it, she jumped at the chance to see them. I spread the various abandoned ideas on the tiny table. In brief, she loved several ideas and sent me back to burnish them. Her choices also solved some issues such as how to get brilliant photography for a dozen pieces and stay on budget. We agreed that public pieces, those distributed outside the organization, would use the images we already had. In-house brochures would use a single graphic solution in various colors to differentiate their messages. Enthused client, problem solved, closer to completion, closer to billing.

Now read, "Enthused professor, closer to degree, closer to job. Most design classes break into three tiers. Promising designers, designers who will develop into promising designers and those who's careers will not be involved with Adobe® products.

Procrastination is a hallmark of creativity. The first two tiers display this early on in their pursuits. The sense that any idea completed is only another step toward the "right" solution hobbles them. The meeting avoided, the incomplete solution, simply not showing up with some excuse plague designers.

Maintaining communication and the visual dialogue with work progress and ideation—with the right clients and teachers—expands the realm of exploration. Bite the bullet, move forward, seek criticism. It does pay off.

Oh, it helps if you have nice comps, well mounted and organized and that you pick an appropriate time and setting to present your ideas. Nice shoes are optional.

Little reminder of shrinking economy

2008-11-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

Some marketing giants are reacting to the downturn, (that's putting it mildly). I picked this up through an RSS feed I watch. While you read this, envision the storefronts of these mall heavy hitters.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Depression_And_Bipolar_Disorder_Support/message/1603

Mike Clelland's boing marks

2008-11-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

I just learned of a friend's site littleboingmarks.blogspot.com. Mike is a talented illustrator/cartoonist and even more talented at backcountry life. He came into my office about 25 years ago and we learned we both knew a particular Chicago expatriate living in New York City. Anyway, long story. Visit his blog and check out his work.

Desperately seeking inclusion

2008-11-22T09:56:00.001-08:00

My main purpose here is to encourage people to look beyond design annuals and trendy periodicals and websites and develop their own design inspiration from a larger universe of stimulus. The hope is that good, innovative design follows.

There are a number of design forums, such as http: //www.thegraphicsforum.com/bb/ that provide a chance to enter into a dialog with other designers on a broad range of topics—some relevant and some not so.

Keep it in mind.

What are you listenting to while you work?

2008-11-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Designs, whatever we're working on, have unique rhythms. Much of the time, music, at least what I listen to the most, is a distraction. But other times, something syncs with the text, images, pages and spaces I work on. From time to time, I go on jags, listening to similar or the same pieces over and over. Recently I discovered Japanese rap. The Japanese are good at mimicking American (and probably other) cultural affectations. Often, their music is accented with English words and phrases mixed with their own language. What I like is the music, rhythm and pacing of rap without words I can possibly hope to understand. Additionally, the unusual pronunciation and juxtaposition of syllables wash over me like a subtheme to the bass beat.

Another designer, late twenties, in our office, likes to play Medeski, Martin and Wood on his ipod while building Flash segments on websites.

Whatever works for you, I would like to hear about it.

Why no posts for a while

2008-11-22T08:16:00.001-08:00

I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth, at least not yet. My mother was recently diagnosed with cancer and just passed away. I just haven't had the necessary motivation to post. But I just went through some of my design scrapbooks and will be back on the job soon. Thanks for your patience.

Design annuals' limitations

2008-11-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

The remark was recently made that looking to design annuals, such as Print or CA, gives you inspiration from last year's ideas. Considering the entry schedule and publication date, the work could have been done nearly two years prior. I find certain things attract my attention and I scrapbook them for later scanning when coming up with a new solution.

Invaluable tutorials

2008-10-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

While scanning graphic design sites, an article on creating "Grunge" brushes in Photoshop caught my attention. veerle.douh.com, impressed me as great place to scan for solutions or to a use some of your spare (read sitting there trying to come up with an idea) time to stimulate your mind. I'm not a big fan of brushes because they look so, well, brushy. That said, if you take the time to try learn a particular technique and perfect its execution the exercise alone is worth it. They say learning something new keeps you young.

Quick, slipshod review—creative tools—Behance

2008-10-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

If you are a student, you are probably creating on raw anxiety and adrenaline resulting from roommate problems or a resolution thereof. if you are a little further along in your creative career, you have likely been exposed to various creativity incubators, capturers, developers and organizers. These usually involve movable tabs, clips, stickies, even magnets, a "motherboard" repository of some sort, and "nodes," individual pads, binders or folders that replicate the organization steps for each individual on the team. Tasks are usually broken down in some categorization system. Something like: Do now, do later, blow off. Some are more Freudian than others. If one of the action categories reads something like, "rub this card against yourself in private," then email me and let me know what dark little hole you found it in—or better yet, dow what it says and afterwards, I'll buy it from you.

If you are still reading, How Design/Behance describes one company's effort to sweat-out your creative solutions. Their basic premise follows the norm, "I think—therefore, I am on deadline without an idea." One thing most creativity/productivity tools have in common is—The Action Step.

The next step usually leads to a special creativity jumpstarter known as "Shopping."
Everybody is more creative when they have just purchased and eagerly await, (read: got to put off for another day or two at least) their new, mondo expensive set of tabs, stickies, binders, folders, sleeves requiring numerous specialized refills available only from the innovators of this wonderful system and your big, UPS deliverable to street addresses only, shipping $14.95 or FedEx overnight $64.95, Motherboard!

In the HOW® article, the author takes stunningly dull photos of stacks of work and the many household uses you can put little tabs to. It all looks very, "I wish I worked at a place like that."

The article references the designers' "Moleskines" too. I never paid much attention to what these were actually called, other than, very expensive, sexy pads found in art museum book stores. Well, they really are Molskines® and guess what. More shopping!

If you can read the red special internet price, you can see where this is going.

So a bear walks into a bar and asks the bartender, "How much for a beer?"

The bartender replies, "Five bucks." Then goes on, "We don't see many bears in here."
Then the bear says, "At five bucks a beer, you won't see many more."

Creative customer service

2008-10-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Creativity, it's said, is 5% sweat, 95% presentation. Being self-employed or owning and running a small office teaches you a lot about customer relations. It also deprives you of the working model for office/client/employee procedures you would find in a typical working office.

When I took my studio personal and rented my office out to another firm in a similar business, they asked me if I would "mentor" them some about customer relations and office management. The glow of the new digs wore off quickly so the mentoring never happened. But I am an occasional customer and our interaction led to some thoughts about customer service.

When your client has an impossible deadline and you deliver on time — then the client doesn't show up for days, even weeks to pick up the work — you ask yourself, "If they did't need it that badly, why did they have this impossible deadline?"

One explanation is the timing of the phone call. Say the job is done, on your counter, and you call and let the client know it's ready. Now they have to wrap that task into whatever else they have to do just as they had to wrap their deadline into their entire list of obligations. New information often makes deadlines flexible, sometimes making them non-existent. So the urgent job sits, along with the deadline, gathering dust.

When you are creating something for a client's tight timing, letting them know the job is definitely going to be on time, ahead of time, gives them the opportunity to fold your work into their project. Giving them a heads-up a day prior to delivery can make you look like a hero and strengthen your relationship with your client.

Just make sure you deliver when you said you would.

A thousand words about web templates

2008-10-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, a remark in that same comment spun off another recollection. csszengarden demonstrates the range of ideas CSS, cascading style sheets, can turn into reality. Though the site's name obviously influences many of the solutions, check out "Revolution!".

The layout is simple, the Post Constructivist elements combined with a graphic floral, all on a rich, deep background. However, many of the other sites here, and in my experience, most of the sites I see, it grabs my attention. Moving on, the right column is too wide for comfortable reading and there isn't much payoff as you move down the page. But the designer has showcased the subject with his own creativity at the forefront. More about this later.

Who cares about creativity

2008-10-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

A comment raised a question in my mind, "Why creativity?" I haven't fully answered that question because I assumed everyone wanted a unique design. Creativity isn't an end in itself, but a process that aids someone who communicates graphically.

My clients have goals they want to achieve—they come to me to implement the graphic direction, and sometimes the marketing, to get where they want to go.

A great deal of my professional work is creating identities. Each approach is unique, creating an image, icon, logo, that speaks visually to the personality, scope and professionalism of that client's endeavor. I often use similar geometry, handled in a unique way, to convey subtle differences.

Both of the above logos are for builders, both builders work as general contractors assembling their crews to fit the project.

The logo on the left is for a builder who works on small to moderate sized projects, one house at a time. He is also a carpenter on his projects. The logo on the right is for, again, a single individual but who works on much larger projects, not just what you think of as "homes." He is often building small compounds, salvaging historical structures on the site, creating massive homes, guest houses and other custom buildings. Finally, each builder has a unique, memorable personality that comes through in their work.

Future posts will better describe the role of the creative process and how it applies to various subjects.

Digital sketches

2008-10-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

These are sketches for a site I was creating for Finegan Thompson in 2007. Three splash page designs, mocked up with the same images in different formats. I don't write html very well so I work with a web jockey who can translate my ideas into online sketches. From there, we have a system for filing components, delivering them sized and optimized and quickly putting rollovers, Flash, whatever into the online mock-up.

Blog catalog

2008-10-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Too goofy?

2008-10-15T13:50:00.001-07:00

Building and presenting color palettes

2008-10-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

Navigating the world of color is a complex and wonderful thing. Here is an initial palette of tones for a client's branding system. As with so many projects, the client has a preconceived notion in their head. My job is to present a cogent group of tones and prioritize them for each potential use.

Building the palette requires a lot of trial and error. Instead of starting with the usual Pantone books, look around at what catches your eye in your environment. It could be something such as Fall aspen leaves on a rock in a stream—setting up a gold, rich gray, blue and silver theme. Clothing or fashion spreads—not the images so much as the pockets and bands of color created by the process.

When developing a system that may be handed to people with absolutely no sense of design—choose wisely.

Successful print bids

2008-10-13T10:48:00.001-07:00

Staying within a budget or creating pieces that are readily doable by a number of print sources is easier when you create designs that fit within standard paper sheet and printing press sizes. In the digital age, it is easy and quick to photograph your mock up and include images when you submit bid requests. Put dimensions with the image and note pertinent requirements. Does that wrap need to seal, etc.

By including images it makes your finished project "real" to everyone who has to deal with it down the line. It hastens and simplifies communication and could easily get your bids processed more quickly. You can ask the printer to modify your specs if there is a much more efficient trim.

Shameless self promotion vol. two

2008-10-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

My work, circa 2003. 19 inches tall, hangs on wall.

NOTCOT—a model for success

2008-10-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.notcot.com/, a site dedicated to perpetuating creative thought via design references is a great source for what's what on the hipness front. In a universe of great ideas/less-great execution, it is a successful example of serious collaboration. So many sites are built on the foundation of an untested idea and someone who can get stuff up on a website.

Read NOTCOT's background and you get a feel for the level of dedication it takes to build, grow and maintain a spark of creativity. The marketing model is basic—anyone could do it. The success is the team behind it and their constant attention to detail and their adherence to their mission.

The answer to the question, "What has this to do with tips and tricks in the marketplace?" is, if you want a full-time salary plus profit from a web endeavor, be prepared to work as hard as this group has. There are no concepts on the web that simply go viral with no effort.

Shameless self promotion

2008-10-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the first post, I am an artist, making these boxes with found objects and my own creations. "Metropolis" a piece from 2000 is roughly 18 inches tall, wood with steel, feathers and pool ball. I have sold a few to friends but have not yet put them in a gallery. Here in Jackson, "Western" art, i.e. those beautiful savages I mentioned in the previous post, win out.

Magic numbers throughout history

2008-10-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

James Carville, while advising Bill Clinton for his second run for the presidency, had two edicts. Stay on point, count off your arguments supporting your point in threes. Using fingers is optional. Psychologically, three gives the listener, reader, whatever, more than an "either-or" decision path. Options and flexibility make it easier for the audience to come to a decision they (he/she/they) feel they have made independently. When the listener comes to their own conclusion, the impression left in their mind is far stronger and more durable over time. Think about this in terms of advertising.

Thirty seven, a prime number, has many magical associations. The most fetched I read, (Scientific American a while back) was as a decision making tool. Say you want to hire the best possible job candidate from a pool of applicants. Line up thirty-seven good resumes, start interviewing with thirty-eight and hire the first good prospect. Your chances of getting a good employee go up 300 plus percent. But who's got the time? In this economy though, you'll likely have the applicants. (see next paragraph)

Another SciAm citation: Miracles. If you divide your life into five minute segments, probability says you are likely to experience six miracle-like episodes each year. Something such as humming a tune and then hearing it when you turn on the radio counts.

It is said that it takes doing something thirty times in a row to make it a habit. It's cold where I live. A suggested method for resetting your body's thermostat to better accommodate sub zero days is to sleep outside (in a nice, down sleeping bag of course) for two weeks and you will better tolerate cold for the rest of the (long) winter.

Here's one I won't test. Told to me by a guide who runs rafts down the Colorado River, after 26 or so days not washing your hair, it attains a natural, washed glow on it's own. That could explain those beautiful savages in movies.

With marketing research, don't base your entire decision making on surveys, focus groups or the like. Never base more than thirty percent of your decision on research—no matter how thorough you think you have been.

This is just a rule of thumb but it gets clients thinking about their assumptions about media. Thirty percent of the paid subscribers to a periodical (and this may be even more likely with electronic media) don't see a given issue of a publication. Issues are lost in the mail, lost in the household, go under the porch, get to the bottom of a large stack of other stuff. Or, the readers are sick, on vacation, bored, angry, whatever—and don't bother to open the publication.

Finally, lists—odd numbers, three or five for talking points on brochures for candidates or causes when you are trying to change people's minds. I have done many campaigns and this rule has not failed. Then again, maybe I just picked the right causes and candidates.

Pro Bono Reaps Rewards

2008-10-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

Doing something in the public good can be effective in drumming up more business. This brochure for our local mental health center's annual Summer fund-raising led to several new clients. They were referred by fellow board members so the introductions went smoothly. I went into the initial meetings with positive reviews and less anxiety on both my part and the client's.

The fundraising exceeded this year's goal and was the most attended event in the run's three year history.

I illustrated the cover and all art in Adobe® InDesign. The piece, 16 x 9 inches folding to 4 x 9, was printed in four-color offset. Due to the relatively short duration of its need, no varnish or aqueous coating was necessary.

copywriting for the net

2008-10-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

SEO, search engine optimization, has been the golden fleece of internet marketing. Capture it and you realize your prophecized quest for success. Good copywriting suppports good design. The two must work hand in hand to turn SEO into revenue. This site's glossary is an easy-to-absorb list of pertinent net-writing terms as they relate to your site's search engine success.

http://www.searchenginewriting.com/glossary.shtml

focus focus focus

2008-10-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you cross a Mafia hit man with a performance artist? Someone who makes you an offer you can't understand.

http://www.principiumstudio.com was introduced to me by a friend of a friend. It is a pretty, Flash® driven site with an obscure offering. It is grossly self-aware and no matter how useful its product might be, I still can't figure out what they do or why I should care.

Ben, the acquaintance, already has my trust. But Ben's site is engulfed in beautiful nothings. The message is wordy and the navigation requires more guesswork than intuition.

A site that really grabs your attention can be a piece of crap with the right headline.

If I see a Google result that says "John Thompson can't afford to overlook this site" my ego will drive me to click on the link. Then if I encounter a busy, hard to read, ad-ridden black hole with a headline such as "John, this site will get you the best deal possible on that A4 you want, has the best gumbo recipe ever, will solve that buzzing issue in your phone and show you how to fold fitted sheets." you bet I'm going to find and read the meat of this offering.

Providing the copywriting is at least passable. Oh, and it really has to deliver on at least one of those promises.

And finally, I get things like this in my email all the time and never click on them. So know your target audience and your best method of reaching them.

Best proofreading method on the planet

2008-10-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

I talk big because I like making monumental generalizations from obscure ideas. My proofreading's superiority claim has been backed up in the May, 1987 issue of "Gross Generalizations" magazine. I wrote a letter to the editor thanking them, but they never printed it. On to the meat of the post.

Assuming you have just written or edited some copy - read it word for word forward twice. Once out loud helps. This gives you a chance to test the flow, grammar and syntax. Next, read it backwards, one word at a time. Out of context, misspellings stand out, making them easy to correct prior to publication. While this deprives readers of that smug sense of superiority they get catching you in a typo, it gives you the warm glow of keeping your act together and depriving them of that satisfaction. Let them read this and get their own typo fix.

Many people rely on spell check. But it can't differentiate words with two spellings and divergent meanings. So if your typo happens to be a real word, you REALLY look foolish to savvy readers. To not-so-savvy readers, you leave them scratching their heads.

Home Office and Studio

2008-10-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Finegan|Thompson design studio and art side of a 16 x 28 foot room. The carpet is FLOR tiles. They are environmentally friendly, easy to lay down yourself and can be washed or replaced easily. That's an HP 130nr, a low priced Epson scanner, early Mac Cinema display, Wacom et al. On the art side are some of my boxes, and a steel frame work table with an old bowling alley lane floor as a top. I have a large cutting mat for mounting comps. There is enough room to set up table top photo shoots for comps. Camera is a Nikon D70, no flash setting. Grainy in low, available light but good enough for comps and family photos.

The Home Office

2008-10-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

My Pandora® just played The Cure, then Jimmy Reed followed by Question Mark and the Mysterians. This is one nice thing about home/office. My music preferences are universal, played on nice equipment in just about any room where I work. I have to admit, the office had a nice, wall wired quad system driven by anything on my computer.

The distinction between office and home is a valuable tool for limiting stress for many. I chose two stressors, working with my wife and then the studio. Since art is my other pursuit outside work, the two blend together. I don't experience the home studio as a haunting reminder of project stress. It allows me to jump back into any project, ideate and develop it on the fly, while it's hot.

Why Graphic Design in Marketing

2008-10-04T11:15:00.001-07:00

Tests have shown it takes a glimpse of only one seventeenth of a second for us to compile, interpret and store an image we see. Hence, the justification for a strong identity for your business or endeavor. Your image characterizes the nature, direction and sophistication level you wish to send to your audience.

Good design is the tool that develops that image. I created this blog to communicate and promote quality graphic design in marketing. I went solo, read: no employees, about a year ago. But I miss the informed chatter that goes on in a creative business. It ran the gamut of subjects from typography and letterform design to our loves and hates in music, motorcycles and single malts. I want this blog to inject some of that banter back into my life and my work. So please feel free to throw in your thoughts and ideas about anything relating to visual communication and its impact on culture.

Regards,
John Thompson